SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In a lifetime of baseball, Gabe Kapler has seen a lot of Opening Days.

“This one,” the Giants manager said, referring to their March 30 clash with the Yankees in the Bronx, “is a bigger stage than I think people are even giving it credit for.”

There is no shortage of storylines that will play out in baseball’s most grandiose setting. On the bluegrass beneath Yankee Stadium’s iconic white facade, the red-white-and-blue bunting in the rafters and 50,000 surely mild-mannered fans, the Giants will meet Aaron Judge (again) and reunite with Carlos Rodón (though, with a forearm strain, he isn’t expected to pitch).

After missing out on the playoffs, and then Judge, and then Rodón, their opening series with the Yankees (an ALCS team in 2022) presents the Giants an opportunity to start anew and set a tone for the 162 to come.

From the very top of the organization, they are leaning in to the narrative.

“I think if anything, it provides a little extra motivation for us and for the guys on this team,” president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said on Friday. “I think athletes look for every additional source of motivation and any sense that people feel that this was a player we needed and we can’t win without him just creates extra motivation.”

The Giants did not come as close to signing Judge as they did Carlos Correa. While a botched report made it seem so for about 7 minutes, they were reportedly outbid by the Padres, and as it played out, there was little chance even his childhood team was going to be able to pry the slugger from Linden out of pinstripes.

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His agent, Page Odle, told Sports Illustrated, “He wanted to be a Yankee.”

Zaidi, Kapler, Giants executives and even a couple players got to know Judge, his agents and his family well this offseason, culminating in a Thanksgiving-week visit to San Francisco. They met over two days, had dinner at Oracle Park and discussed the possibility of him wearing the jersey he dreamed of growing up, with input from fellow Northern California natives Logan Webb and Brandon Crawford.

Instead, Judge will be in the pinstriped jersey he has worn since 2016, the only one he has known as a professional (while he was named the first Yankee captain since Derek Jeter, there will not be “C” patch on his chest). His 6-foot-7 frame will step into the box in the bottom of the first, and Webb will be staring him down from 60 feet, 6 inches away.

“I think it’s going to be fun,” Zaidi said. “He’s the opposition now. We tried to sign him, but he’s the opposition now.”